1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to pet amusement and exercise equipment and, more particularly, to a treat dispensing toy capable of attracting and generating interaction with a pet animal. The invention furthermore relates to a toy having a unitary, one-piece construction.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
For dogs and other animal companions, toys are not a luxury, but a necessity. Toys help fight boredom in pets left alone, and toys can even help prevent some problem behaviors from developing. Many factors contribute to the “right” toy, and a number of them depend upon the pet's size, activity level, and preferences.
Many pet toys should be interactive. For example, interactive play is very important for pet dogs because dogs need active “people time”—and such play also enhances the bond between the pet owner and pet. By focusing on a specific task—such as repeatedly returning a ball or playing “hide-and-seek” with treats or toys—a pet can expel pent-up mental and physical energy in a limited amount of time and space. This greatly reduces stress due to confinement, isolation, and boredom. For young, high-energy, and untrained dogs, interactive play also offers an opportunity for socialization and helps the dogs to learn about appropriate and inappropriate behavior, such as jumping up or being mouthy.
The goal of animal toy designers is to make the toy attractive to the animal and to the animal caretaker. A toy is attractive to an animal when it presents a challenge that is neither too easy nor too difficult to solve and rewards the animal. The toy is attractive to the caretaker when the toy has good playability, durability, and quality of construction and occupies the interests of the animal.
The term “treatball” generally refers to a class of animal toys, typically dog toys, wherein one or more edible treats may be placed into a ball and the treat and/or treats are dispensed as the animal interacts with the toy. In interacting with the toy, the animal follows its natural instinct to obtain food and performs problem solving tasks that engage the animal's mind. Typically, treat dispensing toys are in the form of solid-covered, non-spheroid toys, such as bone-shaped toys or balls with a series of regular or irregular openings through which is dispensed the treat, which is usually shaped to be insertable along only one axis. Turning to FIG. 6, an example of a convention spheroid-shaped treatball 600 is depicted. The prior art treatball 600 consists of an outer shell 602 with a number of openings 604 for inserting/accessing treats.
Prior art, ball-shaped treatballs 600 are generally designed and intended to only be rolled by the pet owner or chewed by the pet, but not thrown by the pet owner. Typically the materials used may not bounce and roll well on soft or irregular surfaces such as a grass field. In addition, the insertion/access openings 604 of conventional designs may allow treats to prematurely fall out without animal interaction, particularly if the conventional treatballs are thrown or bounced. Thus, such conventional treatballs 600 do not have bounce or interactivity characteristics that excite and engage an animal. Although non-spheroid toys that dispense treats may retain treats better than conventional ball-shaped treatballs 600 and thus may be more interactive, such toys may not have desirable bounce and roll characteristics. In either case, prior art treat dispensing toys do not provide impact protection to inserted treats and when bounced, treats may crumble and prematurely fall out of the toy.
Accordingly, a need exists for a toy that offers at once the desirable bounce and roll characteristics of a spheroid-shaped treatball and also the engaging aspect of a treat dispensing toy that requires an animal to interact with the treatball in order to cause treats to be dispensed at the appropriate time in response to the animal's efforts.
A further need exists for the toy that permits a person to find enjoyment interacting with a pet.
Still a further need exists for the toy that combines rolling, bouncing and interactivity characteristics that can amuse and attract the pet.
Yet, a further need exists to make the manufacture of the toy as simple as possible.